On 14th July 2010,
at the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) orientation camp in Kaduna state
(Northern Nigeria), I had the opportunity to address about 2000 Corp members
for some few minutes on “How to make the best of their service year”. I said to
them “Your graduation from university should be for you an opportunity to give
back to the society” as a graduate, this is not the time for you to look up to
the society to give you a job but time to create jobs for the society. Your
society is looking up to you for help, not too many had the opportunity to go
to school and finish well. There is so much joblessness out there, economic
downturns, poverty, corruption and so on… It is obvious the society does not
have much to offer, other than these things. You must be smart and get the best
out of school so you can be in a position to help others. What I'm saying in
essence is; don’t have the mind set of graduating from school and have you join
the labour market “job hunting”, rather, make up your mind to make a difference
and help the situation of things in your society.
If the society refuses to give you a job
or the government refuses to create the enabling environment for small scale
business to thrive, create one for yourself. This could be very challenging
because I have been there, but you have what it takes to harness all the
potentials you've got to make your life better. It is a celebration of
knowledge, you have learnt so much in school than for you to stay jobless. The
many challenges around you are your opportunities to make a difference. Don’t
blame the government, it won’t change your status; more often than not,
governments world over only pay lip service to overturning unemployment and job
creation, so it will not be the wise thing to do; blaming the government and do
nothing to make a change. The truth is; the government itself needs help, so I
encourage you to take responsibility for your life.
Image credit (Pixabay)
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